Love Lessons: Poorliness and Proper Parenting
by Alexannah
Summary: Adrien hates sick days. Gabriel never takes time off work, and keeps his assistant rushed off her feet, so he's always left on his own. This time, however, Nathalie decides that needs to change. [One-Shot]


**Canon/Spoilers:** Major season two spoilers. The canon placement is post season two but not particularly important.

**Ships:** Not especially shippy but some Gabriel/Nathalie at the end, and I've planned a pretty shippy sequel featuring Gabriel/Nathalie and a touch of Adrien/Marinette. (See AN at end of fic.)

**Rating/Warnings:** General audiences. Maybe a little OOC, not sure, but apart from that no warnings.

**Disclaimer:** I claim no ownership of the awesome TV show this fanfiction is based on, and am writing purely for entertainment purposes. No money is being made and no copyright infringement is intended. ADDITION: Credit for the initial idea behind this story belongs to the artist Polar-Sculp.

**Author's Notes:** This fic was inspired by a fan cartoon I found on Pinterest (credit to creator Polar-Sculp), where an ill Adrien accidentally calls Nathalie 'Mom'. I woke up the next morning with a fully formed one-shot in mind. Thanks to Polar-Sculp for the original idea. I tried to link to the artwork but apparently FFnet has grown wise to people putting spaces in web addresses and phonetically spelling the punctuation and keeps cutting it out, so you'll have to either track it down yourself or look up this fic on AO3.

I'm very new to ML fanfiction and this is only my second posted fic in the fandom, so please be kind when it comes to fandom tropes etc as I'm still learning. I'm not sure if everyone writes Chat Noir rather than Cat Noir in fanfic or not; I've always written Cat because that's how it's pronounced in the English version, but so far only seen Chat written. (If anyone could clarify, I'd be grateful.) I'm working on a lot of much longer fics, but I can't guarantee any of them will be posted soon.

* * *

**Love Lessons: Poorliness and Proper Parenting**

_By Alexannah_

"Bleurgh," Adrien muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Plagg's voice, though not particularly loud, nonetheless cut through Adrien's sore head like a needle.

"Ow," he moaned. "It means I feel bleurgh, Plagg."

"Hmm. You _look_ bleurgh. And sound bleurgh."

"Please stop saying bleurgh."

"You started it."

Adrien rubbed his eyes and forced them open, turning his head as short a distance as possible to see the time. (Plagg was notoriously bad at understanding clocks, for reasons he had never worked out.) It was almost twenty to eight. He must have slept through his alarm and Plagg had turned it off in irritation. (Not for the first time.)

He groaned. Getting out of bed and ready for school felt like enough of an insurmountable task without the added rush to avoid being really late.

"You want me to turn the TV on or something? I love sick days," Plagg continued between large bites of camembert he had obviously helped himself to.

"I hate sick days," Adrien muttered. "And no thank you." He tried to sit up slowly, but his head swam and he collapsed back against his pillows.

"You're the weirdest."

"For one thing, _you're_ not the one who's sick. For another, you know perfectly well I _like_ going to school, and any day off is one less day I get to see my friends. But the main reason is that my father never takes any time off work when I'm ill, and he keeps Nathalie too busy to do more than see to my practical needs, so I'm left all alone."

Adrien stopped talking, because his throat was protesting, but if he had been able to continue he would have said how at least when he had been home schooled, he was doing lessons with her and his other tutors, so even though he was isolated from his peers, at least he had had _some_ company. And he and Nathalie had always got on well. Though she rarely dropped her professional demeanour, he could tell she was fond of him.

_Talking of whom_, he thought as there was a sharp rapping on his bedroom door.

"Adrien? You're going to be late."

Plagg hid under the bed. Adrien tried answering, but he couldn't summon enough volume for her to hear through the closed door, and all he did was made his throat sting more. He tried sitting up again with the intention of getting out of bed, but that only caused the room to spin faster.

* * *

"Adrien?" Nathalie tried again, waiting for an answer. Still nothing. He must be in the shower. She opened the door and went in.

She couldn't hear the shower, but took a few steps towards his en suite anyway—then stopped short as her eyes fell on the bed.

"Adrien!" she rebuked, taking another step forwards. "It's almost quarter to eight; what are you doing still in—"

Nathalie paused again as she noticed his flushed face, and after a moment took in the fact that he was shivering. "Adrien?"

He looked at her, his electric green eyes wide and pained, and she moved to the side of his bed, placing a hand gently on his warm forehead. "You're ill."

"I'm fine," he croaked weakly, but she could tell he knew perfectly well she wasn't going to fall for that. She felt a pang of sympathy, knowing he hated being ill, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

"I think you might have a fever. I'll get a thermometer."

Adrien winced and closed his eyes, and she left the room.

She almost ran into Gabriel on the staircase. "Nathalie! Watch where you're going."

"Sorry, Mr Agreste."

He frowned at her. "Where is Adrien?"

"He's not feeling well, sir. I'll call the school once I've taken his temperature."

He nodded. "Alright. When you've done that, I need you in the atelier."

"Yes, sir."

Adrien looked even worse when she returned; his face flushed further and his forehead covered with sweat. His eyes were closed, but there was a miserable expression on his face that caused a small tug of her heartstrings.

"Open up, Adrien."

He obediently opened his mouth without opening his eyes, and she placed the thermometer under his tongue.

"Hmm … You're definitely not going into school today, Adrien."

"Mmhm," he replied, still not opening his eyes.

"I'll have some breakfast sent up to you."

"Thanks, Mom," he murmured.

It took Nathalie a moment to process what he'd said, and paused, startled. He didn't seem to notice what he'd said, and just tugged at his covers a little.

She slowly put down the thermometer, took his covers and tucked them around him properly. He let out a grateful-sounding "Mmhm." Nathalie hesitated, then placed a light kiss on his forehead before leaving the room in silence.

Although she had only planned to tell the kitchen staff to send something up for him to eat, she found herself going to the kitchen herself and fetching him a bowl of yoghurt personally. Once she had it in her hands, she hesitated. Gabriel was waiting for her. But for some reason—perhaps because of what Adrien had said—she couldn't bring herself to just send someone else up with it.

So she took it up herself.

"Adrien? I brought you some breakfast."

He opened his eyes, squinting a little, and looked up at her. His eyes were slightly glassy and she suspected he might be a little delirious.

"You should sit up to eat."

Adrien struggled to try and sit up, quite shakily. Nathalie set the bowl down, propped up his pillows and eased him gently into a sitting position. "There. Is that better?"

"Mm-hmm," he replied, struggling to keep his eyes open.

She tried to place the bowl in his hands, but he almost dropped it, and instead she filled the spoon and held it out to him. "Open wide; here comes the train to the tunnel," she said, the phrase she had heard Emilie use many times over the years slipping out.

He smiled slightly and obediently swallowed the yoghurt. Nathalie refilled the spoon.

* * *

Gabriel checked his watch, frowning. What on earth was keeping Nathalie so long? Was Adrien's school insisting on a detailed report on his health?

He would give her a little longer.

Just as he was beginning to wonder if he should go looking for his executive assistant, she positively skidded into the room. "I'm here, sir!"

"You took your time," he said pointedly.

"I was checking on Adrien," she said, hurriedly unlocking her tablet. "He's gone back to sleep now."

Gabriel paused, having a feeling there was something she should have said but hadn't. Then it occurred to him. Where had been the automatic apology for her tardiness? He was about to comment, before processing what she had actually said, and closed his mouth. As much as he valued punctuality, he appreciated that her reason for being late, in this case, had been his son's welfare. He would let this one slide.

"Well, we need to get on," he said instead. "The distributers messed up the latest shipment and we have a busy morning ahead …"

Nathalie was a very careful and thorough person, and it was those qualities, in addition to her matchless dedication and loyalty, which made her such an excellent assistant. But today he had the distinct impression she was in a rush, talking much faster than usual and positively flying through the tasks he gave her as if anxious to be somewhere else.

"Have you got all that?" he made sure to check.

She reeled off everything he had told her, word for word, albeit spoken much faster. "I've got it, Mr Agreste."

Add the remarkable memory to the list of her prizeworthy qualities.

He was about to ask if she had somewhere to be, but before he could do so, his Miraculous activated, and he forgot all about it. Someone in Paris was in great pain. All other concerns flew out of his head.

"This one looks promising!" He strode quickly across the room to the portrait, barely glancing back to see Nathalie nod.

She knew the drill. Had had plenty of practise rearranging his schedule and taking care of things while he was busy. He trusted her to handle everything, as always.

* * *

Plagg jumped as Adrien's phone beeped, and dropped his camembert. Adrien jerked out of his doze.

"Wha-huh?" He rubbed his eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

"A little." Plagg looked at the phone screen. "Uh oh."

"What is it?"

"Looks like someone's been akumatized."

Adrien's eyes widened in alarm, and he tried to sit up sharply, groaning and almost collapsing again.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Plagg flew in front of him and pressed a paw to his chest. "You're in no state to turn into Cat Noir right now, even if you could actually get out of bed. Don't worry, I'll call Master Fu and let him know so he can send someone to help Ladybug."

Adrien fell back onto his pillows. "You're probably right," he mumbled. "It's just so frustrating."

Plagg traced the unlocking code he had seen Adrien input a thousand times, and opened the contacts. "Remind me what you labelled his phone number as?"

"_Gentlemen's Camembert Competition Hotline_," Adrien replied.

"How could I forget that. Ah, found it." Plagg pressed Call.

"Hello?"

"It's Plagg, Master. Cat Noir's ill, he's not going to be able to help out today."

Adrien insisted on watching the news footage live, even though there was nothing he could do, so Plagg brought the phone over to him.

The battle looked quite intense; Ladybug, Rena Rouge _and_ Carapace all fighting a villain who was unusually violent, exercising a power not unlike Cat Noir's Cataclysm. Adrien kept biting his lip anxiously, especially whenever one of them came close to getting hit. Plagg was rather relieved Adrien couldn't even sit up, otherwise he was sure he would try and transform anyway. And that would _not_ go well.

About quarter of an hour into the battle (neither side coming close to winning yet), there was a knock on Adrien's door. He quickly muted the sound, and Plagg hid with the phone after promising to keep an eye on what was going on for him. "Come in," Adrien said.

The door opened, and there was a pause. "Er …"

Plagg couldn't help it; he peeked.

Nathalie was hovering in the doorway, holding a book, smiling rather shyly, which looked odd on her. "Adrien, I was … wondering if you would like some company?"

"Is that …"

She showed him the book cover. "It's your favourite."

Adrien looked at her in surprise, hesitated, then nodded eagerly—followed by a wince, as his head undoubtedly hurt.

She came in, and sat down on the end of his bed. Adrien settled back on his pillows as she opened the book, and began to read to him.

* * *

Nathalie turned a page, and cleared her throat. "Chapter Twelve …"

Adrien sighed deeply. He wasn't sure how long she had been reading to him, but it had been a long time. In the back of his mind he was still worrying about Ladybug and the others dealing with the akuma, but since he couldn't do anything about it, he had been trying not to think about it. If it hadn't been for that niggling away in his brain, he would have found it hard to say when he had last felt this happy or content.

His father's assistant was no longer sitting on the end of his bed, but right next to him under the covers, letting him snuggle up to her just like his mother used to do. The book she was reading to him was the same one Emilie had read to him every time he was ill. He hadn't realised she had even known which one it was.

Adrien's delirious fever had passed a while ago, and he remembered—at first with mortification—that he had called her 'Mom'. Several times, in fact, and once even 'Mommy'. But though Nathalie hadn't gone as far as to outright pretend she was Emilie, to his amazement she had not deigned to correct him or otherwise break him out of his temporary illusion either. More than that, she had not hesitated to cuddle him close when he requested it, and even kissed his forehead and smoothed down his hair as Emilie had also done so often. Adrien was moved almost to tears by her kindness.

He hadn't told her he'd been aware of who she really was for at least an hour, not wanting this to end in the least. Instead, he continued calling her 'Mom' as if he still believed she was. Nathalie always stiffened slightly when he did, but never tried to confirm or deny.

When she was taking a bathroom break, Plagg came out of hiding. "Battle's over," he confirmed in a hushed voice. "Only just finished. Everyone's okay."

"Good. Thanks, Plagg."

His Kwami looked at him a little suspiciously. "You seem a lot more lucid all of a sudden."

Adrien put a finger on his lips. "Don't tell Nathalie."

"You sly cat," Plagg remarked approvingly. "My lips are sealed."

He dove back out of sight when Nathalie reappeared, and she got back into bed with Adrien. He nuzzled close to her again as she picked up the book, and he saw a soft smile on her face.

She wasn't just there out of a sense of compassion or responsibility. She was really enjoying it. His heart warmed, full of affection for her.

"I love you, Mom," he blurted out, and she stiffened for a moment longer than usual. He started to wonder if he'd somehow blown it, but to his relief she smiled again and pulled him closer.

"I love you too, Adrien," she said quietly.

He grinned and closed his eyes, sighing again in pure bliss. He could tell from the look on her face she hadn't just been playing along. She had meant every word.

_I love you too, Nathalie._

His stomach suddenly gurgled loudly, and they both started, then broke down into giggles.

"Goodness, I didn't realise what the time was," Nathalie said after checking her watch, and put down the book. "What can I get you to eat?"

* * *

"NO!" Hawk Moth seethed. "You infuriating little _heroes!_ One day you _will_ meet your destruction!"

Gabriel emerged from his lair and collapsed into a chair. With the exception of Heroes' Day, that had been the longest and most difficult battle he had ever fought. And though he had only been directing his latest victim, not actually engaged in combat with the heroes themselves, he was as exhausted as if he really had been on the front line.

He had been _so_ close for a moment. Ugh, it was so frustrating! Those blasted heroes—three of them again, though interestingly it had been two of the 'spare' ones, Cat Noir not having shown up—had still managed to eventually defeat his superb villain.

"Master?" Nooroo said timidly.

"Don't start," Gabriel muttered. "I am _not_ in the mood for one of your morality pep talks."

"Actually, I was going to point out that your phone says you have twenty-seven missed calls, eleven voicemails and seventeen text messages."

"_What?_" Gabriel exclaimed, and grabbed his phone. The first number that showed up was François Dupont High School.

He pressed Call, frowning deeply.

"This is Gabriel Agreste," he said, cutting off the person who answered. "You tried to call me earlier?"

"Oh—yes, sir. Your son Adrien did not show up for school today—"

"He's ill at home," Gabriel said shortly. "My assistant already notified you."

"Er—she did? We don't have a record of that—"

"Well, she did." _Or she should have done,_ Gabriel found himself thinking. "At any rate, Adrien's absence is because of illness."

"Alright. Thank you for letting us know, Mr Agre—"

He hung up before the receptionist could finish speaking, and scrolled through his list of missed calls.

They were all people who would have been expecting to call him, or be called by him, that morning. Arrangements which Nathalie had been _supposed _to reschedule.

"This doesn't make sense," he said out loud to Nooroo. "Nathalie was supposed to handle all of this. It's not like her to not take care of things while I'm akumatizing someone, no matter how long I was doing it for; she knows better."

"Maybe she forgot because she was taking care of Adrien, Master," Nooroo suggested, but Gabriel wasn't really listening.

He stalked out of the room, intending to find his assistant and have words with her, and paused as he saw her making her way upstairs holding a steaming bowl. _She must be taking Adrien his lunch_, he thought, and decided to wait until she returned.

Gabriel returned to his desk and looked up his schedule, frowning deeper as he saw that, although the first half an hour or so after he had gone into his lair had been cleared, the rest of his appointments had been left as they were.

"What in the world has she been doing all morning?" he muttered, now very irritated. It was only now he remembered her haste earlier, and was now regretting not asking her about it. But still, if she had had some other commitment, she should have come right out and said so, not just neglected her responsibilities!

Nooroo made some kind of suggestion, but Gabriel had tuned him out.

He thought about calling some of his business associates back, but decided not to. He was not going to apologise on Nathalie's behalf; she should do that herself.

Gabriel stewed huffily for a few moments, then looked at his watch again as his already thin patience waned further.

Surely Nathalie must have delivered Adrien's lunch by now?

He sighed, stood up and once again strode from his atelier.

There was no sign of Nathalie between there and Adrien's room, but when he approached his son's bedroom, he heard voices inside, and slowed down. Adrien laughed hoarsely, and then coughed. Gabriel couldn't explain why he chose not to announce his presence, but drew nearer and paused silently in the doorway.

Nathalie was sitting on the edge of Adrien's bed, feeding him a bowl of soup as if he were a small child again, tender and affectionate. A lump arose in Gabriel's throat as he flashed back to another woman doing exactly the same thing for their ill son. The image of his wife cleared a moment later, and he continued watching his assistant and Adrien, his anger draining away.

"Told you," the Kwami inside his pocket whispered. "She's been looking after Adrien all morning."

Gabriel shushed him, but conceded Nooroo was probably right.

_Alright. As far as reasons not to do her job go, that one's acceptable._

Though she still should have told him that was what she had been planning to do.

Nathalie put down the empty bowl, and moved position so now she was sitting on the bed next to Adrien, smoothing his hair gently. Something else Emilie also used to do. "How was the soup?" she asked him.

"_Soup_-er," Adrien croaked, grinning. She smiled at the bad pun. "Thanks, Mom."

Gabriel felt as if an electric shock had run through him, and he heard Nooroo give a small surprised squeak.

He expected Nathalie to correct Adrien immediately, but to his horror she barely paused, and just kissed him on the top of his head, unknowingly sending her boss reeling.

* * *

"Thanks, Mom."

Nathalie could not deny she had started feeling a warm glow whenever Adrien said that, though she told herself sternly she really should not. It didn't mean anything, and it _shouldn't_ mean anything. Adrien was simply delirious, and she didn't have the heart to break his illusion. That was it.

His eyes were starting to close. She kissed him, and tucked him in, then just watched for a moment as he appeared to drift off to sleep.

A prickling feeling ran down the back of her neck and she turned her head, suddenly feeling someone else's eyes on her.

Gabriel was standing in the doorway watching them, and he did _not_ look happy.

Nathalie swallowed nervously, and glanced down at Adrien, who looked fast asleep already. She mustered her courage, stood up and quietly left the room with the empty bowl.

Gabriel opened his mouth as she closed the bedroom door, but Nathalie gave him a fierce glare which startled him, and put a finger to her lips. His own thinned, but he obediently restrained himself as they headed downstairs in silence.

Once they were in the hall, he rounded on her. "Nathalie, what on _earth_ is going on?"

"Sir?"

He thrust her tablet into her hands. "For starters, you did not cancel or reschedule the last four hours of appointments in my calendar, and now I have a long list of business associates who need an explanation and an apology."

Nathalie's stomach twisted into a knot. "Mr Agreste, I—I'm so sorry—I had no idea you had been unavailable all that time; I got caught up in looking after Adrien—"

"Yes, that much I managed to deduce; but you should have told me that was how you were planning to spend the morning so I knew you would not be on hand to sort things out if it took longer than expected!"

"I'm really sorry, sir. I promise, I will inform you next time."

"And speaking of Adrien," he continued, his expression darkening, "what was _that_ all about?"

Nathalie forgot her fear and her guilt, and fixed a stern look on him. "What does it _look_ like, sir? Your son is ill and I was looking after him."

"Yes I can see that," Gabriel snapped, "but he called you '_Mom_'."

"I know," she replied calmly. "He's been slightly delirious all morning and I think he thought because I was looking after him the way his mother did, that I was her."

"You didn't correct him," he said in quite a stony voice.

"Of course not!"

"_Why not?_" he demanded. "You're not his mother, Nathalie!"

She flinched. "I am well aware of that, sir," she replied, unable to prevent herself from feeling quite hurt by the statement. He seemed slightly taken aback by her reaction. "But Adrien is sick and was feeling vulnerable, and I thought it would be kinder to not shatter his illusion. The last thing a child needs when he's poorly is a reminder that his mother is not there for him, sir. I was only trying to make him feel better." She paused, gathering all her courage. "I know it's supposed to be a parent's job, but she's not here and you weren't doing it, so someone had to."

It was Gabriel's turn to flinch slightly. "I _beg_ your pardon?"

"I'm sorry about your schedule, Mr Agreste, but I will _not_ apologise for trying to look after your son. I know it's not my job to be his parent, but I care about him too, and I could see he needed someone to look after him today."

He hesitated, and said, "Fine. I understand. But from now on I don't want any more forgetting to rearrange my schedule, no matter what you're doing."

"I will take care of it now, sir."

As Nathalie unlocked her tablet, she had a brainwave. Gabriel stood there while she shuffled his appointments around, and she resisted the smug grin that threatened as she handed it back to him triumphantly.

"What is this? What have you done?"

"I have cancelled your entire afternoon, sir."

"What? _Why?_"

"Because it may have escaped your notice, sir, but your son is sick."

"I know that; we just had a long conversation about it!"

"Then in light of our agreement that I am not his mother, perhaps you should be spending some time with him yourself." Gabriel blanched, and she continued determinedly. "Mr Agreste, I know strictly speaking I am out of line, but quite honestly I don't care. When Adrien was sick when his mother was around, you continued working while she took care of him. Well, it can't work that way anymore. Ever since she's been gone, he's been left on his own when he's ill, and that's not fair. I know you have a lot on your plate, but trust me to handle it, and go and spend some time with your son. He needs you far more than anything else right now."

Gabriel stared at her for a long moment, and she thought she had finally pushed it too far. In the end though, to her relief, he said, "You're right." He handed the tablet back to her and started to make his way up the stairs. Partway up, he paused, and looked around. "Thank you, Nathalie."

"You're welcome, sir." Walking on air from her success, Nathalie headed into her office to start on her long list of phone calls.

* * *

Adrien rubbed his eyes and turned over, realising groggily that he had fallen asleep again. He had no idea what time it was. The last thing he remembered was Nathalie feeding him soup, though that could have been minutes ago or hours ago. As he moved, his covers pulled, and he realised someone was sitting on the end of his bed.

He shuffled sideways and pulled the covers down next to him. "In with me?" he mumbled.

The person sitting on his bed stood up, walked towards the head of the bed, and got in. Adrien had assumed it was Nathalie, but as they pressed next to him, he realised it wasn't.

His eyes flew open, and then they widened further in shock. "_Father?_"

Gabriel smiled at him—actually _smiled_—though it looked nervous, and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling, Adrien?"

_I'm obviously delirious again_, Adrien thought.

"No, you're not."

Adrien blinked, and realised he had actually spoken out loud.

"I don't blame you for thinking that." His father shifted further down the bed so his head was on the pillow next to Adrien's. "I'm sorry I've spent so little time with you recently, son. Especially when you're ill. I know I can be too …" He hesitated. "… single-minded, sometimes."

_Almost all the time_, Adrien thought, but managed keep the correction silent.

"I realise I owe you a lot of time, and I'm starting right now."

Adrien smiled. "Thank you."

"What do you want to do?" Gabriel's eyes fell on the book Nathalie had been reading. "I can continue reading this to you if you want, though I'm not sure I can do the voices as well as your mother did."

"You don't need to do anything, Father," Adrien said, snuggling into his father's side and wrapping his arms around him. "Just having you here is enough."

There was a moment's pause, before Gabriel's arms embraced him.

* * *

_Three Days Later_

"Of course, Mr Damocles. I will be sure to let Mr Agreste know. Thank you." Nathalie hung up, immediately input the event onto Gabriel's schedule, then called him. "Sir, Adrien's school is having a parent teacher night in January. I've told them you will be attending."

"Thank you, Nathalie. I will be there."

And it gave her great pleasure to know that he actually meant it.

The door opened, and she couldn't help but smile as Adrien entered, holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers. "Evening, Adrien."

He grinned at her. "Hi, Nathalie."

"It's a few months early for Valentine's Day, isn't it?" she asked teasingly. "What lucky lady are these for?"

"They're for you, Nathalie."

She paused, taken aback. "Sorry?"

"Um, I have a bit of a confession," Adrien said, suddenly sounding very awkward. "When I was ill … I know I called you 'Mom' …"

Nathalie suddenly felt hot around the collar. "Don't worry about it, Adrien, it's fine. You were delirious; I understand."

"That wasn't my confession." Adrien placed the bouquet on her desk. "Um, well, the thing is … I was only delirious the first few times," he admitted. Her eyes widened in surprise. "You were just being so sweet to me and …" He paused. "I didn't want that to stop."

"Oh, Adrien …" Nathalie couldn't stop herself; she stepped forwards and hugged him tightly.

"And thanks for getting Father to spend time with me," he added, slightly muffled in her shoulder.

"He told you I did that?" Nathalie said in surprise.

He giggled as they drew apart. "No, but you just did. Don't worry, I knew it was you."

"Your father loves you very much, Adrien," she said hesitantly. "Sometimes, between you and me, he just needs a little help knowing how to show it."

"I know. And thank you for giving him that help sometimes."

"Honestly I wish I had done it before, but … you're welcome."

He beamed at her, and the sight warmed her from the inside out.

Once Adrien left the room, she turned around to find Gabriel watching her, and jumped. "Mr Agreste!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt. I owe you an apology, Nathalie."

"Sir?"

"I overreacted when I heard Adrien call you that. It just … it hurt," he admitted.

Her face fell. "I'm sorry, sir—I didn't mean—"

"No, you don't have to apologise to me. I know you were just doing your best for Adrien, and I do appreciate that. In a way … you're a better parent to him than I am, sometimes." Nathalie couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, and he sighed. "Alright, you're a better parent to him in many ways, a lot of the time. I … suppose I never really adjusted to being a single parent, because I've been too focused on Emilie. I'm very glad that Adrien has you looking out for him."

"Thank you, sir." Nathalie hesitated. "Sometimes I think I've crossed the line because I'm supposed to be an employee. Other times, I'm not sure I've done enough for him."

Gabriel was silent for a moment, long enough for her to get nervous of his reaction. "Well, maybe we should have an understanding," he finally said. "That, when it comes to doing what is best for my son, you're free to act, discuss, and argue if necessary, with me, without any fear of consequences; because you've made me see that … sometimes I need you to stand up for him and put me right."

"Agreed, Mr Agreste. Thank you."

* * *

Adrien grinned as he watched his father and Nathalie shake hands, agreement made, with no idea he had been eavesdropping.

Two things were making him very happy at that moment. The first was the hope that, with Gabriel having given Nathalie permission to essentially give him some lessons in parenting, things would get better between him and Adrien. Maybe even close to how they had been before his mother had disappeared.

The other thing was the fact that he could sense a distinct shift in the relationship between the two adults.

He had noticed that Gabriel and Nathalie seemed to have become a lot closer in recent months, but until now hadn't thought much of it. But sometimes they seemed more like equal partners than employer and employee, and this was definitely one of those moments. They had known each other a long time—Nathalie had been working for Gabriel since Adrien had been little—and he knew they had each considered the other a friend for years. But there was something in the way they were smiling at each other right now that made him wonder if maybe … maybe it was more than that now.

He had no conflict about that possibility. He still missed his mother painfully, every day, but he knew in his heart she was never coming back. Nathalie was nothing short of awesome, and if she and Gabriel would be happy together, Adrien wanted that for them _so_ much.

"What are you thinking?" Plagg whispered from inside his jacket.

Adrien didn't reply for a moment, too busy drinking in the sight of the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder to examine Nathalie's tablet, now in a discussion about a problem with the next day's schedule, so close to each other they were almost touching. Nathalie gently touched Gabriel's arm as she turned to say something to him, and there was a lightness in his voice as he responded, despite the issue they were discussing.

"I'm thinking I see a spark between them," Adrien responded quietly. "And I need to do something."

"Like what?"

"Like make sure my emotionally repressed father doesn't mess it up." Adrien winked down at his Kwami. "Are you up for helping me play Cupid?"

"Bleurgh. Do I have to?"

"Well, I'm not sure I can pull it off on my own." Adrien paused. "Maybe I should ask my friends for help. And you know what's just around the corner?"

"Some camembert?" Plagg said hopefully.

"_Christmas_. And you know what hangs in the doorways at Christmas?"

"I have a feeling you're about to tell me."

"Mistletoe," Adrien said, now grinning even more broadly.

"Bleurgh."

"Please stop saying bleurgh."

"You started it."

**The End … or is it? To be continued in Mistletoe and Momentous Moments (working title, may change!)**

* * *

**Author's Note:** I've planned a SEQUEL to this, which will end up either a one-shot or a bit longer, not sure yet. The plan is pretty thorough with a lot of the dialogue included, so I'm hoping I can write it soon enough to post before or around Christmas, but can't make any guarantees. There may be a third fic as well, but I only have a vague idea on that front, so we'll see.


End file.
